Quote from: Antiquation!;1114338But what of Lobsters? :eek:

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1114340A version of the Little Mermaid done using that would be a lot more interesting.

Quote from: Brendan;1114339Lobsters use the AD&D druid progression rules.  In order to move up a lobster level you must challenge and defeat a higher level lobster.

Quote from: Brendan;1114330Having an old forest witch with a chicken legged hut in your game is a trope, but Baba Yaga herself isn't a "trope".  Rather she is an instantiation of an archetype, that of the cannibal or devouring feminine crone.  If you want to capture the same archetypal feel you need to invent your own sinister witch like NPC villain.  

This figure may use magic to appear young and beautiful, but must actually be old and ugly.  She is past the age of any sexual desirability or child rearing.  She may pretend to be kind or maternal, but this must be only a cover for her cannibalistic nature.  She is in this way an inversion of feminine virtue who preys upon the most vulnerable. She must exist on the fringes or outskirts of society, but also appear anywhere and move around at will.  She is a unpredictable and universal threat. At the same time, she possesses powerful magic and many magical artifacts.  She could be a resource for the very brave or very stupid PC.

While an inversion of feminine virtue she still IS feminine in a classic and stereotypical sense.  She is not interested in politics usually, except when it affects her ego, or when it can be used as a lever to get what she really wants.  She may also be willing to let PCs travel through her realms unmolested if they do her some small favor of grant her some kind of trinket, but she will remember them and that's probably a very bad thing.  Think of every narcissistic slighted woman you've ever met and you're getting close to the mark.  

Approaching all archetypes should be done in this way.  First figure out what the archetype is all about, then make your fresh version.  This way you avoid superficial copying and the obvious cliched nature of pop culture tropes.

Quote from: Brendan;1114337Interesting that masculine/feminine maps to Law/Chaos... paging Dr. Peterson.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1114399Chaos and order have nothing to do with specific genders in the human psyche. Humans in general are orderly, because we define and dislike chaos.

Quote from: Brendan;1114339Lobsters use the AD&D druid progression rules.  In order to move up a lobster level you must challenge and defeat a higher level lobster.

Quote from: VisionStorm;1114352So what you're saying is that we should live in the way of the lobsters, but in order to do that we would all need train as AD&D Druids to climb up the lobster hierarchy, which by extension would make us all of True Neutral alignment?

Quote from: S'mon;1114394This is a good post.

Baba Yaga is very much not the 'evil queen' trope, although I suppose she might have been an 'evil queen' a very long time ago. The evil queen is both vain and insecure about her fading beauty, determined to destroy younger and more beautiful female rivals. Cersei Lannister and the queen in Snow White both exemplify this trope. Baba Yaga is the witch-hag trope.

The Evil Queen represents mature female sexuality as a negative force. A couple other fictional examples more male-directed would be Servalan in Blake's 7 and the White Witch of Narnia. The Crone is definitely post-menopausal.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1114399It's not even true, either.

The Egyptian goddess Ma'at is the personification of order. The masculine demon Apep/Apophis is the personification of chaos.

Loki is a gender bender. The Norse gods are dicks.

Athena is a goddess of wisdom and orderly warfare. The other gods are psychotic mass murderers and rapists.

Tiamat had a husband named Apsu/Abzu, another masculine personification of chaos.

Chaos and order have nothing to do with specific genders in the human psyche. Humans in general are orderly, because we define and dislike chaos.

Quote from: Antiquation!;1114417 LOL, that's hilarious. Gave me a good chuckle.

Quote from: Brendan;1114339Lobsters use the AD&D druid progression rules.  In order to move up a lobster level you must challenge and defeat a higher level lobster.